In a multiple table load, you specify multiple INTO TABLE clauses. When you specify POSITION(*) for the first column of the first table, the position is calculated relative to the beginning of the logical record. When you specify POSITION(*) for the first column of subsequent tables, the position is calculated relative to the last column of the last table loaded.
Thus, when a subsequent INTO TABLE clause begins, the position is not set to the beginning of the logical record automatically. This allows multiple INTO TABLE clauses to process different parts of the same physical record. For an example, see "Extracting Multiple Logical Records".
A logical record might contain data for one of two tables, but not both. In this case, you would reset POSITION. Instead of omitting the position specification or using POSITION(*+n) for the first field in the INTO TABLE clause, use POSITION(1) or POSITION(n).